“These results highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain,” said study lead author Barkha Patel, post-doctoral fellow at Yale School of Medicine in the US.

People vary greatly in their ability to imagine the smell of freshly baked bread or the sweet aroma of a bouquet of roses.

In the study, participants completed a series of questionnaires that asked them to imagine both visual and odour cues and then to subsequently rate the vividness of these cues.

The researchers found that individuals with a higher body mass index (BMI) reported greater ability to vividly imagine food and non-food odours.

The results will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behaviour (SSIB) at Denver, in Colorado.